I first met this majestic tree in 1982, which stood tall on Bannerghatta Road, just after Basavanapura. It’s been my buddy for 36 years. It was a big old tree back then and more so now. The land adjacent to it is our workplace, from my father’s time. This tree has seen me grow up, it has seen me come and go. It has weathered 100’s of monsoons and has sheltered many a dog, cow, goat, bird, bat and cat. When I arrive at this spot, I know I have come home.

This evening, at about 6:00 p.m., I drove back to my office, but the road was choked with traffic. I finally made it to the gate, only to see my buddy being cut down. I was chocked with emotion. The only thought in my mind was to stop the bleeding.

I met the tree butchers and quizzed them. No one was in charge. One guy, appeared to be the leader and I asked him for the permits to cut the tree. He had none. He told me that his boss, the BBMP contractor, Shekar, had the permits and that I should speak with him. I called Shekar, who stated that he had the permits and that he had given it to the Police and BESCOM. I called the Hulimavu Police station and they told me that they do not know about the tree cut. They asked me to contact the control room (100). I called them and explained the situation. They gave me the number of the Forest Officer In-Charge, Mahesh.

I called Mahesh and explained the matter. I asked him if permits were granted to cut the tree. He was not too sure and asked me send photographs via WhatsApp. He mentioned that some trees were being cut down for road widening. I told him that the tree was being cut in the middle of rush hour (6:00 – 6:30 p.m.) and that it was a serious safety issue. I specifically told him that it was crazy to fell a tree with hundreds of vehicles passing by – buses, lorries, vans, cars, scooters and bikes.

After I had spoken to the Police and the Forest Officer, the tree butchers had quickly gathered the debris on their bikes and vans and scooted away by 6:40 p.m. Why run, if they were following the Law?

I have many troubling questions regarding the maiming of my tree buddy.

Has the BBMP issued a permit to cut this particular tree? If so, who authorized it?

Has the BBMP carried out a honest environmental impact study on the trees to be felled for road widening on Bannerghatta Road?

Assuming that the permit was granted, why did they have to butcher this tree during rush hour, endangering the public?

Why was the Police not present to control the traffic and protect citizens from falling debris?

Why did the tree butchers carry away the cut up portions on their personal bikes and vans?

The tree has a right to live. If it has to be chopped, in the name of city development, let the Government do it with responsibility. There should be an engineer in charge to explain it to the public and share the permits, while the butchering was done. It should be mandatory for the Government to post Police to safeguard the public from injury, while the tree was being cut. Common sense would dictate that the tree should not be cut, when a high density of vehicles were plying by.

If my tree buddy has to be butchered, in the name of development, let it be done with due process, with dignity and within the framework of the Law. I still hope that I can do something, so that what is left of it can live. Maybe if the tree lovers of Bangalore and the World voice their opinion, it would live to see another day. Good night my lovely tree. I know that you are crying and I cry with you tonight.

I recently saw the documentary 13th and it was stunning. The revelations were startling. President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States of America on January 31, 1865, through the 13th Amendment. It freed about 4 million Black slaves. However, successive US Presidents successfully maneuvered Government Polices and continued to keep a large percentage of Blacks in abject slavery. The US prison population was 327,000 in 1970 and this jumped to 2,220,300 (more than 2 million!) in 2013. Blacks make up 13% of the US population, but account for 40% of the prison population, which is about 900,000, say close to a million. It is shocking, but true.

How is this related to Poverty in India?

There is a connection and it is political. Poverty has been a political cancer since 1947. Every elected Government, since Independence, has made polices that have perpetuated poverty – some intentional and some not.

There are many definitions for poverty and it can be confusing for anyone. I’ll trust the World Bank’s definition of international poverty line, which was revised in 2015 to US $1.9/day (Rs. 122/day) per person, based on the concept of PPP (purchasing power parity).

Take a look at how the Government of India defines poverty. In June 2014 it was defined as a person earning Rs. 32/day in rural areas and Rs. 47/day in urban areas. A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report in 2012 computes that 270 million people (22% of population) are below the poverty line of Rs. 33/day. This is consistent with the World Bank’s published data.

At a US $1 to Rs. 64 exchange rate, Rs. 33/day is about $0.52/day per person. The accepted 2015 poverty line of $1.9/day adjusted to 2012 figures is about $1.74/day. How do we reconcile a definition of $0.52/day by the Indian Government to $1.74/day by the World Bank, which is a difference of 235%? It’s apparent that the Indian Government is deliberately under-reporting the % of Indian population below the poverty line.

If we assume linearity in income and % population data, at $1.74/day (Rs. 111/day) the % of population is 74%. At low income levels, linearity is a reasonable assumption.

The truth is somewhere in-between. The % of Indian population below the poverty line is between 22% (Rs. 33/day) and 74% (Rs. 111/day). I’ll mid-point it out at about 48%, for 2012. This translates to about 600 million people in India below the poverty line!

If politicians say that the % of population below the poverty line is less that 22% in 2018, then we know it is not true! It just can’t come down from 48% to 22% in 6 years, which would be a reduction of 54%! There is no way they can justify it, since the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI) of the Indian Government does not have any data till date to support a counter claim.

Why is the Indian Government pegging the poverty line to Rs. 33/day per person? It’s simple – because 22% poverty level sounds politically great. If it were taken at Rs.122/day (US $1.9/day), as per the international norm, the % levels would be much higher and this does not sound great to any political party.

I want to further substantiate that the present Indian Government’s definition for poverty of Rs. 33/day is absurd. I spoke to a few of the people I work with, who have come from villages to the city to seek employment. Well, they are from South India and they love rice and sambar, a type of lentil based spicy soup, in their daily diet. They tell me that in the villages, the consumption per person would be about 400g/day of rice and about 200 grams/day of lentil in the form of sambar. Rice is about Rs.50/Kg and lentils (dal) about Rs. 90/Kg. Add to this about 250 grams/day of vegetables at Rs. 25/Kg. This works out to Rs. 44.25/day just on food. What about other things. Let’s take just rent and electricity. In villages, rent may be about Rs.900/month (Rs. 30/day) and electricity Rs.15/day. The basics works out to be about Rs. 89.25/day. One also needs clothes and health care. So, the World Bank estimate of Rs. 122/day seems more realistic than Rs. 33/day of the Indian Government. I don’t have any doubts about it, do you?

The folks I spoke to would be proud to pay for their daily sustenance without doles from the Government. They just want jobs that pay well. They don’t want a hand out of subsidized food supply (Government Ration Schemes or Coupons). Their pride to earn and live well is more valuable to them.

But, poverty is real. The Government is coming up with all sorts of schemes to dole out goodies to the poor and keep them poor. For example, in Tamil Nadu there is the Amma Scheme and in Karnataka there are Indira Canteens, and so on in other states. Such schemes just keep their hunger at bay, but provides no tools for them to progress out of poverty.

The poverty data has always been inconsistently reported and explained since 1947. In the 1950’s about 65% (215 million) of the population was below the poverty line, defined as Rs. 0.6/day per person. In the 1960’s it was 70% (289 million) below Rs. 0.6/day per person. In the 1970-1980’s the figure is reported at 50% and the poverty line was defined at Rs. 1.63/day per person. In the 1990’s poverty was reported at 77%, based on Rs.20/day per person. In the 2000’s, the estimate in 2012 pegs the poverty at 22% based on Rs.33/day per person. Look at the pattern from 1947 – 65%, 70%, 50%, 77% and then 22%. Somebody did some magic in 2012 – political mathematical chicanery!?

I think I have made the case for a poverty estimate of about 48% to 50% at the present time (2018), affecting 600 million people. Of course, I am not an economist or a political analyst or a statistician. So, if anyone disagrees and provides data, I’ll be happy to correct any errors in my analysis.

To pull people of India out of poverty, I think that the Government should re-invest its free doles into more permanent things. In layman’s terms, one way that I see is to create more jobs. For creating more jobs, the new generation must have better skills through education. For jobs that pay better, Companies should be incentivized to do so. If self employed, let the Government re-route the existing free doles to enable people to invest them in working assets, so that it can generate revenue for them.

For salaried and self employed people to earn more, the present 2018 Government of India, should be humble and make practical policies. Their demonetization and GST initiatives have a basic premise – businesses and people are corrupt.

The demonetization policy was a failure. RBI has stated that 99% (Rs. 15.28 trillion or US $239 billion) of the pre-demonetization money (Rs. 15.44 trillion or US $241 billion) in circulation came back to the banks!

I’m a supporter of GST, but the implementation is pathetic. The IT technology behind it is ancient and makes life hell for filers. It’s a system that should grant credit for all purchases, but it does not. Further, even though the businesses have legal invoices and receipts for purchases, they cannot claim credit for all of it, since the GST body wants the seller to upload the sale to the GST site. Why – since the Government thinks we will cheat!

Finally, the officers in the Central Government are still corrupt. Businesses still pay a bribe to get things done in the departments. This nasty practice must stop. So, with honest and practical reforms in GST and the way the Government works, businesses can no doubt create more jobs and also better paying ones. Self employed citizens will thrive. It’s the only way out of poverty, other than being socialistic. India is democratic and it has too large a population for socialism to work. The private sector can do what the Government just cannot.

I think that a little honesty from the Government is needed. It must think real hard and solve the poverty problem. It should stop making policies that keep the poor in poverty. The equation of poverty to votes must end now and forever.

I’ve wasted several man days trying to get the DSC (digital signature) working in the GST portal. A few months back I spent a lot of time getting it working on Windows 10, on which I had specifically installed Google Chrome for this purpose. With all the automatic updates and changes, we could not get the DSC working again, since last week. I’ve been tinkering for a few days and I realized that the problem is with the GST technical implementation.

The GST portal and department has not been truthful to the people of India. Just imagine, if we could have spent the wasted time with our families and loved ones, instead of fixing the DSC problem, which is not our own making.

Deceit #1
You have to look at the GST System Requirements to understand what the government wants from you. It stipulates that you need – Desktop Browser: Internet Explorer 10+/ Chrome 49+ or Firefox 45+. There is no qualification on the OS – whether it is Windows 10, 8, 7 and so on or Mac OS Mountain Lion, High Sierra or whatever.

After following all the guidelines on the GST System Requirements page, I realized that I was wasting my time. While signing with the DSC, I was continuing to get an error that the GST page was unable to connect to the server. I read several online Help pages, but it was just not working.

I began thinking from first principles. The browser has to first communicate with a Java application called emSigner. This application, emSigner, is the GST’s so called server, that is able to communicate with your digital signature token, which is typically purchased by you and provided to you on a USB drive. If the browser is unable to communicate with the emSigner, then it means that the Java interface will not function.

In my case, I was running Windows 10. I had 3 browsers installed- Microsoft Edge (updated in Feb 2018), Google Chrome (Version 63.0.3239.132) and FireFox (57.0.1). At least my Chrome and FireFox comply with the requirements of the GST portal (Chrome 49+ or Firefox 45+).

Next, I checked whether java communication is enabled in the brower, by typing https://java.com/verify in the browser address bar. To my surprise, Chrome 63+ and Firefox 57+ gives feedback that Java is not compatible with it.

So, is it truthful for the Government of India and GST to publish such inaccurate system requirements on its GST portal? Is it fair for it to mislead Indian businesses?

Forget Microsoft Edge, Java is not even supported. Instead, in Windows 10, you have an option to open a page in the legacy Internet Explorer (IE). Apparently, Java does work in IE. For brevity, I’ll refer you all to a solution posted on another blog site post.

Deceit#2
Assuming that everything is working correctly (browser, emSigner and your DSC token), my team is often running into a problem of not being able to access the GST portal server, for submission. This is another strange problem.

These 50 lakh (5 million) business have to file GST returns in three forms – GSTR-1 (details of all sales made and itemization of individual sales invoices), GSTR-2 (details of all purchases made and itemization of purchase invoices) and GSTR-3 (summary reconciliation of GSTR-1 and GSTR-2 and determines whether a company has to pay net taxes or receive a credit). This is a heck of a lot of data! Just imagine, a typical average might be about 500 Invoices (purchases and sales) for a company and we have about 5 million companies, for a total of 2.5 billion invoices. Multiply these 2.5 billion invoices with about 10 data points for each invoice and we have about 25 billion data points per month. All this data has to stored on Government Servers for years together, practically forever, hopefully.

What is the kind of investment required to maintain such huge mounts of data? One needs state-of-the-art data centers, that are reliable and secure. I only know that Infosys was paid Rs. 1380 crore (US $0.2 billion) for the implementation. I am not in the know of how much the Indian Government has spent on the GST data center or where it is. For comparison, Google invests about US $11 billion each year and Facebook about US $2.5 billion each year on their data centers. How much do you think the Indian Government has spent on its GST data centers? I hazard an estimate – probably a few hundred million dollars at the most and certainly not a billion dollars.

If I were to take an educated guess, the Indian businesses are struggling to file and access the GST portal due to sub-standard and poor technology infrastructure – both in terms of inadequate server hardware and terrible software technology.

Way forward
In my opinion the Indian Government has to be honest and transparent with its citizens. It should humbly tell us how much it has spent on server hardware and software. It should be honest about using current and relevant software technology, and also communicate it clearly to Indian businesses.

Knowing very well that the browsers (Edge, IE, Chrome, FireFox) have deprecated Java, they should have abandoned it and used the latest industry standard web technologies. They knew this before GST was introduced (July 2017), but they still went ahead with Java. Is this being honest?

Most importantly, I don’t want the Indian politicians gloating about how they have implemented GST and using hyperbole of catching dishonest businesses. I want the Indian Government to be first honest with the people. If it is honest, people of India will also automatically be honest. It is this type of culture that is needed today in India, to transform itself into a progressive country.

A friend called me about an hour ago and told me that the High Court of Karnataka had stayed all the Orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), New Delhi, regarding Bellandur Lake!

The Order was issued today (15 June 2017) by the Chief Justice of Karnataka, Honorable Subro Kamal Mukherjee, and Honorable Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar, in Writ Petition WP 25881/2017, filed by Shashi Distilleries Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.
This is the gist of the matter. I have not read the petition, but this is what I was told by a reliable source. Apparently, the National Green Tribunal, New Delhi, has no jurisdiction over the city of Bangalore! Hence, all the Orders passed by it with respect to Bellandur Lake, which is situated in the city, is null and void.

As always, I’m shocked, but not surprised, by this blatant Abuse of Power. How can the Justices at the NGT not know that they do not have jurisdiction over the city of Bangalore? Even kids know what they can do and what they can’t.
I had contended in my earlier posts that the Closure Order by the Karnataka State Pollution Board (KSPCB) was illegal and violated the fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 21, of the Constitution of India. As such 488 industries were closed for 40 days (05 May 2017 to 15 Jun 2017) and BESCOM had even disconnected electric power. At a minimum, 25,000 employees lost their livelihood for 40 days. Further, the credibility, reputation, goodwill and brand of the 488 industries have taken a severe beating. Some of them will never recover from the economic losses. I would dare to say that the damages are in excess of Rs. 1000 crores. Will someone pay for it?

Now, let’s wait and see if there is any sense of urgency by the Government of Karnataka, KSPCB and BESCOM to connect back the electricity to these 488 industries and restore their livelihood.

Bellandur Lake now needs the correct medicine to come alive. This time around, the Government of Karnataka, the BWSSB, BDA, Bangalore Urban Development, BBMP and the KSPCB, should get the job done right.

We are all watching – the 12 million people of Bangalore and the citizens of the world!

The right half of Bangalore (mustard circles) lets out approximately half the sewage of the city, which is 1000 MLD and which contains about 650 MLD of untreated sewage. This stream first collects in the Bellandur Lake and overflows into the Varthur Lake.

From here, it meanders south for about 40 Km to Kelavarapelli Reservoir. The outflow from here is designated as the “Then Pennai River”, which is also known as the “Ponnaiyar River”.

Soon after, it crosses the Karnataka – Tamil Nadu border.

The water travels to the Krishnagiri Dam, further south, which is about 60 Km from the Keleavarapelli Reservoir.

It journey’s on for another 106 Km south-east to the Sathanur Reservoir, in the heart of Tamil Nadu.

It then follows the south-easterly gradient for another 116 Km and drains into the Bay of Bengal at Cuddalore, in Tamil Nadu. This part of the sewage from Bangalore thus traverses a path of about 322 Km.

Journey of Bangalore Sewage from Sankey Tank to the Bay of Bengal:

The left half of Bangalore (purple circles) again discharges about 1000 MLD of sewage and 650 MLD of untreated sewage. The birth place is near the Sankey Tank in Bangalore, which is in the uber-rich part of the city and the stream gets the privilege of being called the “Vrishabhavathi River.”

It travels south-west, along parts of the Bangalore-Mysore highway, for 34 Km and flows into the Vrishabhavathi Reservoir. When you exit Bangalore, en route to Mysore, you get a nasty stench from this river. It’s common knowledge that this is because of untreated sewage water.

It continues from the Reservoir and travels 19 Km and joins the Arkavathi River (orange circles).

From this point, it travers another 41 Km southwards and meets the great Kaveri (Cauvery) River, near the Mugguru Forest and Mekedatu.

The Kaveri literally bisects the two States. But, here is the exact point where the river crosses the two States.

It journeys on, in a south-westerly direction, into Tamil Nadu and flows into the Stanley Reservoir (Mettur Dam).

From here, the Kaveri River travels a long distance of about 220 Km and forks off at Tiruchirapalli, into two streams.

One stream splits to the top as the Kollidam River and drains into the Bay of Bengal at Chidambaram, after traveling 104 Km.

The other splits to the bottom, still as the famed Kaveri River, and travels about 107 Km, and eventually ends in the Bay of Bengal at Kaveripattanam. This part of the Bangalore sewage traverses about 421 Km.

Can we all do something so that our Bangalore sewage does not end up at these end points?

Google Maps has been a recent curiosity for me. It’s lately turned into a minor obsession. I can fly like an eagle, sitting on my computer and I can see the truth. I don’t need the Government of India to tell me about the state of our rivers and its pollution. I don’t need the media to give me an elevator pitch. I want to see it with my own eyes. You too can!

I’ll prove that all of our Bangalore sewage (shit, urine, soaps, household chemicals) is flushed into two major rivers, the Kaveri (Cauvery) and Thenpennai. It travels through the whole width of Tamil Nadu, providing water for drinking and irrigation. The people of Tamil Nadu have been hoodwinked by the Government of Karnataka.

Bangalore has a population of 12 million [1]. It is listed as the 18th most populous city in the world! The Cauvery (Kaveri) river water project supplies 1350 MLD (million liters per day), which is augmented by water from other sources, including bore wells [3]. The BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) states that the personal consumption is 165 liters/day. Based on this data, the people of Bangalore consume 1980 MLD. This is also the amount of sewage discharge per day.

Let’s compute a few more things. The average human feces, as per Britanica, is 100 to 250 grams/day [4]. A paper published in the National Institute of Health (US Department of Health and Human Services) lists the median fecal wet mass as 128 grams/day/person and urine at 1.42 liters/day [5]. Based on this data, I’ve estimated that Bangalore produces 1,536,000 Kg/day (1536 tones/day) of human feces (shit) and 17,040,000 Kg/day (17,040 tones/day) of urine.

We the people of Bangalore, just like others in the world, use soaps and shampoos for bathing, detergents for washing clothes and household chemicals (phenyls/phenols/acids/alkali/alcohols/ketones). Let me go on the low side and consider that we consume a very small amount, say 10 grams/day. This is 120,000 Kg/day (120 tones/day) of soaps, detergents and household chemicals.

In summary, the people of Bangalore are discharging 1980 MLD (1980,000,000 liters/day) of consumed water as waste, that is contaminated with 1,536,000 Kg/day (1536 tones/day) of human feces (shit), 17,040,000 Kg/day (17,040 tones/day) of urine and 120,000 Kg (120 tones/day) of soaps/detergents/household chemicals. This is a total of about 2000 MLD (million liters per day) of sewage!

Just try to visualize it. You have seen the large metal containers on trucks and on ships. They are about 20 feet in length, 8 feet wide and 8.5 feet high. In terms of trucks, the city discharges 52,105 trucks of sewage water, 40 trucks of shit, 448 trucks of urine and 3 trucks of soaps. This is a total of 52,597 trucks of sewage!

The BWBSSB proudly lists on its web site that it has 14 STP’s (sewage treatment plants) in Bangalore, for a total processing capacity of 721 MLD. The total sewage discharged is 2000 MLD.

This means 1279 MLD (1279,000,000 Kg) of sewage is discharged untreated. The actual amount is more, since the Bangalore STP’s have been documented to be dysfunctional and not operating to rated capacities. For simplicity, I will take the untreated sewage to discharge 1300 MLD.

This is a massive amount to let out and this is a real environmental disaster. The real sad part is that it is let out into two major rivers, the Thenpennai and Kaveri, that traverse through the heart of the State of Tamil Nadu.

The right half of Bangalore (see the interactive Google Map, mustard circles) lets out approximately half the sewage, which is 1000 MLD and which contains about 650 MLD of untreated sewage. This stream first collects in the Bellandur Lake and overflows into the Varthur Lake. From here, it meanders south for about 40 Km to Kelavarapelli Reservoir. The outflow from here is designated as the “Then Pennai River”, which is also known as the “Ponnaiyar River”. It then flows to the Krishnagiri Dam, further south, which is about 60 Km from the Keleavarapelli Reservoir. It journey’s on for another 106 Km south-east to the Sathanur Reservoir, in the heart of Tamil Nadu. It then follows the south-easterly gradient for another 116 Km and drains into the Bay of Bengal at Cuddalore, in Tamil Nadu. This part of the sewage from Bangalore thus traverses a path of about 322 Km.

The left half of Bangalore (see the interactive Google Map, purple circles) again discharges about 1000 MLD of sewage and 650 MLD of untreated sewage. The birth place is near the Sankey Tank in Bangalore, which is in the uber-rich part of the city and the stream gets the privilege of being called the “Vrishabhavathi River.” It travels south-west, along parts of the Bangalore-Mysore highway, for 34 Km and flows into the Vrishabhavathi Reservoir. When you exit Bangalore, en route to Mysore, you get a nasty stench from this river. It’s common knowledge that this is because of untreated sewage water. It continues from the Reservoir and travels 19 Km and joins the Arkavathi River (orange circles). From this point, it travers another 41 Km southwards and meets the great Kaveri (Cauvery) River, near the Mugguru Forest and Mekedatu. It journeys on, in a south-westerly direction, into Tamil Nadu and flows into the Stanley Reservoir (Mettur Dam). From here, the Kaveri River travels a long distance of about 220 Km and forks off at Tiruchirapalli. One stream splits to the top as the Kollidam River and drains into the Bay of Bengal at Chidambaram, after traveling 104 Km. The other splits to the bottom, still as the famed Kaveri River, and travels about 107 Km and ends in the Bay of Bengal at Kaveripattanam. This part of the Bangalore sewage traverses about 421 Km.

I really hope that the above details will help you zoom into the Google Map and traverse the wondrous paths of the Bangalore sewage.

This is a national disaster. I just hope the people of Tamil Nadu can forgive the negligence of the city of Bangalore and the State of Karnataka. It is irresponsible for the State of Karnataka to discharge its sewage water, with no regard to the welfare of the people of India.

What will happen now? Should the State of Tamil Nadu sue the State of Karnataka and the city of Bangalore in the National Green Tribunal (NGT)? Will the NGT, without application of mind, ask the people of Bangalore to stop defecating (shit, urine), stop taking bath (soaps), stop washing clothes (detergents) and stop cleaning their homes (household chemicals)? Should the people of Bangalore stop living?

My answer is a resounding NO! We need to solve this environmental catastrophe. The simple solution is to ensure that every drop of sewage is treated in STP’s using the latest technology, before discharging it. I have computed earlier that Bangalore has an immediate need for additional STP’s to process 1300 MLD of untreated sewage waste. These types of problems have been solved, both in India and in other countries. The technology is well known and well proven. What is needed is the will of the Government of Karnataka to be honest and do the right thing. They should stop using shoddy third rate stupid science and use its power to provide the best solutions for a stable and sustainable environment.

I can’t help but think of Uncle Ben telling Spiderman – “With great power comes great responsibility!”

The world has seen the Switzerland like snow frothing from Bellandur Lake. However, Bangalore is too warm for real snow. Everybody knows that it’s detergent based soap foam. No mystery in that!

The brilliant stalwarts of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), its Chairman, Environmental Officers and Scientists, issued closure orders to 488 industries in Bangalore on 05 May 2017. Their superior science, worthy of a Nobel, was just too brilliant.

These 488 industries in total generate 0.003586 MLD (million liters per day) of Trade Effluent (from industrial processes) and 12.455 MLD of Sewage Waste (toilets and day to day people use), for a total of 12.45869 MLD. Let’s round it off to 12.5 MLD. Looks like a lot?

In my article, KSPB has fooled the world! (https://indiachallenges.com/2017/05/30/first-blog-post/), I’ve explained how 6 million people in the right half of Bangalore generate 984 MLD of domestic sewage waste and are also responsible for the release of 60 MTD of household chemicals comprising of an exotic concoction of surfactants (anionic, cationic, zwitterionic, fillers and builders and cleaning liquids (ammonia and alkali based, acids, hydrocarbons such as phenyls/phenols/alcohols/terpenes/ketones).

Look at the Google Map above. For 984 MLD of sewage waste, plus 60 MTD of household chemicals, there is only one STP (sewage treatment plant), the K&C Valley STP (Koramangala and Challaghatta), with a capacity of 248 MLD. You do the math. The untreated sewage water going into the Bellandur Lake is 797 MLD. The visual map is proof that untreated domestic waste is actually discharged into this precious lake.

It’s obvious that the Government of Karnataka and the KSPCB has deceived the public.

If all the 12.5 MLD of industrial trade effluent goes into Bellandur Lake, it would amount to only 1.2% of the total waste water discharged into it! Since the bulk of the 60 MTD of household chemicals is soap, what would be its cost going down the drain? At a low-end price of Rs. 350/Kg this amounts to Rs. 21 million/day (Rs.2.1 crore/day), which is Rs. 766 crore/year. 488 industries cannot afford to throw away this much money down the drain. They would be out of business!

The 60 MTD of detergents is primarily a blend of nonionic surfactants (NIC) and anionic surfactants (AS). Pick up any brand of detergent at home and read the label. You will fill find lots of ethoxylates (such as nonyl phenol ethoxylates) which are NIC’s. Examples of AS are alkyl benzene sulfonates, lauryl sulfate, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfate and so on.

Bellandur Lake is about 3.61 square kilometers in area and has an average depth of 9.21 meters. The volume computed is 33.24 billion liters. That is, the lake has a volume to hold 33 days’ worth of sewage coming out from this part of Bangalore. After that fill capacity, it must overflow, which it does to Varthur Lake and eventually to the Then Pennai River. It finally drains into the Bay of Bengal at Cuddalore, in Tamil Nadu. It’s sad, but Tamil Nadu is taking in 50% of the Bangalore’s shit, piss, sewage and household chemicals via this path!

Interestingly, Bellandur Lake, at any given point of time will hold 60×33, which is, 1980 MT (metric tons) of detergents, i.e. 1,980,000 Kg (say 2 million Kg)! This is an incredible amount of detergent in such a small volume. When wind speeds pick up, it will whip up the water-air interface and this creates the ideal conditions for frothing of foam. This is all the simple science that is required to explain the so called foaming pollution of Bellandur Lake.

Isn’t it nut-case science that the KSPCB, the Government of Karnataka and the National Green Tribunal think that the foaming is because of 488 industrial units? Of course, it is possible that some unscrupulous industries might be discharging effluents into the principal drains. However, even if all the 488 industrial units discharge, it amount to 12.5 MLD, while the detergent from domestic waste is 60 MTD.

It is my opinion that all this amounts to willful and deliberate misleading of the public by the KSPCB and the Government of Karnataka. Why is it not telling the truth to the people of Bangalore? Is this kind of junk science doing any good to the reputation of Bangalore as the IT capital of India? What is the vested interest and gain for the KSPCB and its cronies? Shouldn’t KSPCB be held accountable for violating the public trust? Isn’t it critical for them to be honest and find real solutions?

We the people of Bangalore, Karnataka and India will not take this type of nonsense, fake science and junk explanations anymore. We all have the right to clean water and air. This right is guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Government officials and departments have no authority to take away this fundamental right from us. Now that they have, it’s time that they be taken to courts and justice sought. More so, the names of each one of these clowns who put us in this position should be exposed worldwide. If courts cannot bring some guilt and remorse into them, at least some domestic and international shame will teach them a lesson to never violate public trust. They are here to serve the people of the land. If they cannot do that, they must gracefully resign, if not, they must be voted out of power.